Department of Health and Social Care

Accident and Emergency Departments: HIV Infection

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure those diagnosed with HIV through opt-out testing in emergency departments are effectively referred for treatment, whether their diagnosis is new or previously known.

Lord Markham: In the first 18 months, the NHS England HIV opt-out testing programme in local areas with extremely high HIV prevalence has preliminarily identified 578 people newly diagnosed with HIV and 344 people previously diagnosed with HIV but disengaged from care. Opt-out testing in emergency departments is finding people living with HIV who were otherwise unlikely to have been diagnosed without presentation to health services with specific complications, meaning they can access treatment earlier. This access to treatment improves their longer-term health outcomes and saves lives. All non-negative results from HIV opt-out testing in emergency departments are reported to and managed by relevant specialist teams who will notify the individual, organise confirmatory testing and facilitate linkage to care and support. Local standard operating procedures should be informed by national standards for the care of people living with HIV.

Infant Mortality

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to setting a target for reducing the infant mortality rate.

Lord Markham: The Government has set a National Maternity Safety Ambition to halve the 2010 rates of stillbirths, neonatal and maternal deaths and brain injuries that occur during or soon after birth by 2025.

Infant Mortality

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessmentthey havemade of the outcomes arising from the 2020 final progress report of the Each Baby Counts programme run by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Lord Markham: No specific assessment has been made of the outcomes arising from the 2020 final progress report of the Each Baby Counts programme. However, we have taken the findings of the report into consideration when shaping our future ambitions.In March 2023, NHS England published the Three year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services. The plan sets out how NHS England will make maternity and neonatal care safer, more personalised, and more equitable for women, babies, and families. A copy of the plan is attached.The plan is underpinned by four key themes. Theme 3 focuses on developing and sustaining a culture of safety, learning, and support. Each Baby Counts frameworks are referenced as a basis to support the development of a positive safety culture.The Government has also set a National Maternity Safety Ambition to halve the 2010 rates of stillbirths, neonatal and maternal deaths and brain injuries that occur during or soon after birth by 2025, alongside a further ambition to reduce the rate of pre-term births from 8% to 6% by 2025.To support this ambition, we have provided £5 million to the ‘avoiding Brain Injury in Childbirth’ collaboration in 2021/22 to build consensus on a new approach for improved identification, escalation and action on foetal deterioration in labour and a new protocol for complications that can arise with positioning of the baby at caesarean section.We are currently developing a pilot programme to develop and test a delivery model for training of the trainers and for site level training.Attachment (pdf, 876.4KB)

Infant Mortality

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have for the Health Service Safety Investigations Body to take forward the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists' Each Baby Counts programme.

Lord Markham: The Maternity and Newborn Safety Investigations Programme (MNSI) now carries out the maternity work previously carried out by Health Service Safety Investigations Body Maternity Investigations Programme.Similar to the purpose of the Each Baby Counts programme, the MNSI Programme is intended to identify key trends and provide system-wide learning. The programme carries out investigates into specific cases of stillbirths, neonatal deaths, maternal deaths and brain injuries, with its criteria originally based on the categories of “eligible babies” as described in the Each Baby Counts Report.The Department therefore has no plans for the Health Service Safety Investigations Body to take forward the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists' Each Baby Counts programme.

Perinatal Mortality

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reasons for the increase in the stillbirth rate in 2021.

Lord Markham: The Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK (MBRRACE-UK) annually publishes a detailed analysis of the rates of stillbirth, neonatal mortality and extended perinatal mortality for the United Kingdom and for each devolved nation.MBRRACE-UK’s Perinatal Mortality Surveillance Report, published in September 2023, analyses UK perinatal deaths from births from January to December 2021. The report states that the most common causes of stillbirth were placental, congenital anomalies, cord problems, and infection. There remains a high proportion of stillbirths with an unknown cause of death, namely 33.3%. A copy of the report is attached.The latest data shows that there has been a reduction in the stillbirth rate from 4.1 stillbirths per 1,000 total births in 2021, to 3.9 stillbirths per 1,000 total births in 2022. Overall, since 2010, there has been a 23% reduction in the stillbirth rate.Attachment (pdf, 3510.1KB)

Maternity Services: Standards

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made towards meeting the national maternity safety ambition in England to reduce stillbirth and neonatal mortality by 50 per cent of 2010 levels by 2025.

Lord Markham: The Government’s National Maternity Safety Ambition is to halve the 2010 rates of stillbirths, neonatal and maternal deaths and brain injuries in babies occurring during or soon after birth by 2025. The ambition also includes reducing the rate of pre-term births from 8% to 6% by 2025.Considerable progress has been made towards reducing the rates of stillbirths and neonatal deaths. According to the latest data, the stillbirth rate has reduced by 23%, and the neonatal mortality rate for babies born over the 24-week gestational age of viability has reduced by 30% since 2010.

Treasury

Reclaim Fund

Lord Young of Cookham: To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Government Actuary was consulted by Reclaim Fund Ltd when it implemented the Internal Capital Guidance issued by the Financial Conduct Authority for reserves under the Dormant Assets Acts 2008 to 2022.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The Internal Capital Guidance was set and implemented whilst Reclaim Fund Ltd was a private company, as such it did not have access to the Government Actuary‘s Department. Nonetheless Reclaim Fund Ltd received, and continues to receive, external specialist advice.

Child Benefit

The Lord Bishop of Durham: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the positive impacts of the Canada Child Benefit that was introduced in 2016, and what lessons they have learned from it in developing their own policies.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: We keep Child Benefit under regular review and part of that includes considering international comparisons.

Northern Ireland Office

Victims' Commissioner: Payments

Lord Weir of Ballyholme: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the proposal by the Victims Commissioner to provide payments to the relatives of those killed during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Lord Caine: The Government fully recognises the terrible loss of those bereaved through Troubles-related incidents. Support for victims is a devolved matter for consideration by a restored Northern Ireland Executive. It is right that a restored Executive considers how best to acknowledge and support people who have lost loved ones during the Troubles. This Government has always made clear, in successive manifestos, that it will never accept any moral equivalence between those who defended democracy and the rule of law in Northern Ireland, and those who sought to destroy both.

Victims' Commissioner: Payments

Lord Weir of Ballyholme: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the proposal by the Victims Commissioner to issue payments to the relatives of those killed during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, whether the scheme will apply in respect of paramilitaries who were killed.

Lord Caine: Support for victims is a devolved matter for consideration by a restored Northern Ireland Executive. This Government has always made clear, in successive manifestos, that it will never accept any moral equivalence between those who defended democracy and the rule of law in Northern Ireland, and those who sought to destroy both.

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Horticulture: Carbon Emissions

Baroness Buscombe: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the role of the environmental horticulture sector in helping the UK to reach its net zero targets.

Lord Callanan: Nature-based solutions, like restoring peat and planting trees, are key to tackling climate change and averting its impacts. In recognition of the energy intensive nature of the sector, Controlled Environment Horticulture sites will be eligible to apply for Phase 3 of the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund. Phase 3 will open for applications later this month.